Today’s message from Pres. Monson

Share this:

Like this:

About Geoff B.

Geoff B graduated from Stanford University (class of 1985) and worked in journalism for several years until about 1992, when he took up his second career in telecommunications sales. He has held many callings in the Church, but his favorite calling is father and husband. Geoff is active in martial arts and loves hiking and skiing. Geoff has five children and lives in Colorado.

Agellius, yes, I noticed that. Former journalist that I am, I said to myself: “his or her, not their.” You may or may not know that these types of things often get changed in the final written record of the talk. And I don’t know his exact quotation from the talk itself, but it will be available on-line soon.

It wasn’t just the grammatical error, but the fact that he refrained from using the traditional “his”. Kind of ironic given the content of the quote. : )

But I get your point that this is a transcription and my not accurately reflect the original. And even if it does, that doesn’t condemn him, a lot of smart people don’t use perfect grammar. I just thought it was kind of funny.

Imperfect grammar like this used to bother me. Now using “they” as a singular to mean “he or she” is used often. I actually approve of this change. As life moves on we need new words like “internet.” We need a word to mean “his or her” because “his” just doesn’t cut it. Unless someone invents a better one and has it officially added to the English language, “Their” is preferable to “his or her.”